Cosmetic cleansing compositions for removing make-up and the like are in wide use today and are marketed in a variety of forms such as creams, lotions, astringents, etc. Such cleansing compositions are useful in facial and body cleansing, especially to remove make-up, oil, dirt, soil and other undesirable materials on a person's face or body.
There are two "traditional" cleansing creams. The first, cold creams, are based on the beeswax/borax formulation. The second are semi-translucent liquefying formulations using a mixture of hydrocarbon oils and waxes.
Cold cream formulations are centuries old. The earliest preparations were primarily animal and vegetable fats and oils; typically beeswax and olive oil. Water was later added to the molten beeswax and olive oil. This resulted in a "cooling" effect during use through the evaporation of the water on the skin. These first products were unstable and subject to rancidity. In time, sweet almond oil replaced the heavier olive oil, borax was introduced as a stabilizer, and then spermaceti (whale oil) was added to soften the product. Later modifications included changing from almond oil to mineral oil, with rose water and rose oil added for fragrance purposes.
More modern cleansing creams incorporate other fatty acid esters for emulsification rather than borax and substitute fatty acids and fatty alcohols for beeswax. Current cleansers contain, for example, synthetic emulsifiers instead of borax, as well as the traditional beeswax/borax systems.
After use of many skin cleansing compositions, such as cold creams, the user will typically follow such application with a bar soap in order to remove any remaining residue left behind as well as to obtain a "clean feel".
It has been found that the facial cleansing compositions of the present invention in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion which contain specific surfactants with an HLB above about 10 in combination with specific polyalphaolefins and specific carboxylic copolymers provides improved cleansing efficacy as well as improved rinsability and improved skin feel (such as nongreasy feeling). It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved facial cleansing composition which thoroughly cleanses the skin by removing, for example, dirt and oil as well as difficult to remove make-up, waterproof mascara and the like.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved facial cleansing composition which has superior rinsing.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an improved facial cleansing composition with improved skin feel after rinsing.
These and other objects will become readily apparent from the detailed description that follows.